Football Federation Australia has revealed it spent just over £28million on the failed bid for the 2022 World Cup.
Australia managed just a single vote from FIFA's executive committee in December as they instead controversially opted to hand the tournament to Qatar.
That left the FFA red-faced and the extent of their spending was detailed today after the governing body submitted a 40-page financial report to the Australian Government.
While the figures showed that the FFA's bid was under budget, after they had received a 45.59million Australian dollars (£30.2million) government grant, the extent of their spending meant it effectively cost 42.25million dollars (£28million) for one vote.
The accounts also revealed that the kangaroo-leather-bound Bid Book - the 700-plus-page dossier submitted to FIFA which detailed the fine print of the bid - cost more than 10.4million dollars (£6.9million) to compile and present in Zurich, which was three million dollars (£1.99million) over budget.
After submitting the report on Thursday, FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said he was looking forward to drawing a line under the bid.
"Although the submission of this report was a formality it was also an important milestone for FFA under our obligations contained in the funding agreement," Buckley said.
"The acceptance of the report marks the end of the bid process and with our commitments to the Federal Government around the bid now complete we can close the chapter on this stage of our history.
"We were all disappointed with the result of the decision and we are on record as saying that we believe the bid process was flawed.
"However, we are very proud of the bid we submitted on behalf of Australia which was widely acknowledged as technically strong."
Source: PA
